Lots of service dogs this trip

[danikoski]

I always assumed the best until proven other wise. Service dogs are becoming more popular as more trainers are popping up. Unfortunately for every person who is faking their dog their is someone who also got conned by a fake trainer. This is happening a lot with PTSD dogs.

Now I know at least AP holder who does fake that their dog is a service dog and has done it for years. I finally had enough and stopped the friendship. They also faked needing a DAS simply because they don't like to wait in line. I however personally know the person and they know they are stretching rules to their benefit.

The point I stop accepting a service animal is when their handler doesn't follow the law or rules. If your dog is aggressive, uncontrollable, unclean or loud (i.e. Barks through the entire line) then you lose my graces. Same goes for the person we saw at Disney Springs who let their dog crap in one of the planters around a tree and then just left it there and ran legit ran away when someone called them out on it.

If a service animal presents as a safety or health hazard, like in the case of an aggressive dog, Disney can ask the person and dog to leave or go to a less crowded area of the park. I've actually seen Disney do this. A woman had a little dog in her ECV basket inside the perfume shop in France. Everytime someone walked by, the dog would try to bite them. A Disney management person came and asked her to go to the courtyard outside the store. She refused. She was then told she may have to leave the park then. I'm not sure what happened because we were just passing through enjoying some ice cream outside the store. But it was interesting, and I felt bad for the dog because he seemed to just be overwhelmed and hence snapping at people.

Also, there was an instance of a service monkey earlier this year, and Disney should have turned that one away. Monkeys are not protected by the ADA, I don't believe in Florida you are supposed to have them as pets, and they can carry some serious diseases that infect humans.

 

[ols386]

Do you see the glass half full or half empty?

When you see a person with an invisible disability who has a dog in the park, do you assume they're taking advantage and faking their need for support, or do you give them the benefit of the doubt and recognize that you're not trained to detect or identify therapy, emotional support, or service dogs or who might benefit from them?

This thread is all about perspective and our ability to know what we know, and what we do not.

No I don't assume they are taking advantage, I just think they have some kind of disability.

 

[tarak]

Why would you assume it's not serving a "real" purpose as a service, therapy, or emotional support animal? What do you assume you know about this gentleman? Could he be a combat veteran? Could he have a mental illness, or diabetes, or epilepsy? Do you have any sort of specialized knowledge or an informed perspective on this topic, or this man, or service animals in general???

Yes! I've never understood why some people get so worked up about this issue. I have a hard time believing WDW is overrun with people bringing their faux service dogs. Is it because someone is getting one over on Disney, or on those who'd want to bring their pets as well? I have a rescued greyhound. I love him, but like others have stated, can't imagine my dog enjoying the magic kingdom or any theme park.

 

[wilkeliza]

If a service animal presents as a safety or health hazard, like in the case of an aggressive dog, Disney can ask the person and dog to leave or go to a less crowded area of the park. I've actually seen Disney do this. A woman had a little dog in her ECV basket inside the perfume shop in France. Everytime someone walked by, the dog would try to bite them. A Disney management person came and asked her to go to the courtyard outside the store. She refused. She was then told she may have to leave the park then. I'm not sure what happened because we were just passing through enjoying some ice cream outside the store. But it was interesting, and I felt bad for the dog because he seemed to just be overwhelmed and hence snapping at people.

Also, there was an instance of a service monkey earlier this year, and Disney should have turned that one away. Monkeys are not protected by the ADA, I don't believe in Florida you are supposed to have them as pets, and they can carry some serious diseases that infect humans.

Oh I know that and that is why they lose my grace and may even get reported by me for that. Same for people smacking people with their strollers or ramming people with their ECV. Cool with using any of it if we can all coexsist in the park happily.

 

[danikoski]

Yes! I've never understood why some people get so worked up about this issue. I have a hard time believing WDW is overrun with people bringing their faux service dogs. Is it because someone is getting one over on Disney, or on those who'd want to bring their pets as well? I have a rescued greyhound. I love him, but like others have stated, can't imagine my dog enjoying the magic kingdom or any theme park.

My issue is that the untrained animals give a bad name to the trained ones. I also kind of see it as a form of animal abuse to bring an untrained dog into a WDW situation. Trained service dogs go through a hell of a lot to become trained service dogs, including a lot of desensitization to crowds and odd situations. A lot of the emotional support dogs (not all, there are some good ones) are not given that kind of training. It puts an animal in a really stressful situation where someone very well could get hurt.

I also don't like people who abuse a system meant to help people who really need it because eventually, the system then has to change. This then often times makes life harder for people who weren't abusing the system, but really truly need it.

 

[Jennasis]

I feel bad for any dog, legit service dog or otherwise, being dragged into a Florida theme park. That pavement is HOT.

 

[tarak]

My issue is that the untrained animals give a bad name to the trained ones. I also kind of see it as a form of animal abuse to bring an untrained dog into a WDW situation. Trained service dogs go through a hell of a lot to become trained service dogs, including a lot of desensitization to crowds and odd situations. A lot of the emotional support dogs (not all, there are some good ones) are not given that kind of training. It puts an animal in a really stressful situation where someone very well could get hurt.

I also don't like people who abuse a system meant to help people who really need it because eventually, the system then has to change. This then often times makes life harder for people who weren't abusing the system, but really truly need it.

I completely understand this perspective. It's the posts where people just attack the very presence of the animal that baffle me. Its like the posts where someone gets worked up over an older kid in a stroller. Unless someone's shins have been barked, why get bothered about it?

 

[epcotty]

If it doesn't actually have anything saying it's a service animal, it's a safe assumption that it's not. I would hope CMs (especially security CMs) would be suspicious of any like that or if it doesn't seem like an official service dog in any way. And it is supposed to be only service animals there, nothing else according to park rules. Anyone who violates this by falsely claiming that would be guilty of a misdemeanor as mentioned earlier, would fall out of favor with Disney if it became apparent (and possibly be ejected from the park), as well as potentially get lots of lawsuits if the animal harms people in the park. It's a lot to risk. I hope security controls all this well enough, especially to prevent any attacks on guests

 

[jenndisney]

We stayed in a room at Boardwalk that had a dog in it before us. (dog hair on the decorative throw pillows) My daughter is allergic so we had to request a change of room. So went from a lovely view to a parking lot view. I do wish they would set aside rooms at all hotels for people who travel with pets/animals. We can not stay in those rooms.

 

[RedmonFamily]

I just wanted to share that there is a reason that most people with service dog actually don't want there to be paperwork certification for these animals (dogs/ponies). First, if someone tries to prove they have a service dog by paperwork, it is not a service dog, there is no paper work. Second, think about how would these dogs be certified? There is no formal training process from one trainer to another so what would you regulate. Second, each animal is trained to help a very specific need that will vary from one person to the next. One diabetic alert dog may be trained to detect a low at 85 while another will detect a low at 70 based on the persons needs. All handlers have to train the dogs continuously so there is no benchmarch to "test" theses animals against.

Unfortunately yes this can lead to some abuse of the system. Service dogs are trained and when asked the two questions (Is this a service dog? and What task is the dog trained to provide?) the handler can answer yes. Under the law a therapy dogs and emotional support dogs DO NOT provide a service for a disability and does not have the same rights.

 

[mamamelody2]

Huh, I didn't see any service animals last year. Maybe I'm just not paying attention. Or maybe I did see one and didn't think anything of it.

 

[Skippyboo]

I saw some Labradors wearing Mickey ears last trip to the park. It made me smile.

 

[allsaintsatx]

This thread is making me equally angry and sad. Y'all are using "quotes" around "service" animals and all of this underhanded 'well why do they need 2 animals?'. So sad. Just pray to God that you don't NEED a service animal OR a wheelchair OR an ECV or anything else that helps you live a normal life and feel like a normal person in the Happiest Place on Earth and not have Judgey McJudgertons whisper behind your back and then go on message board to complain about your disability.

EDITED to take out language

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I think that there an uptick in service dogs because of both legit and fake service dog increases. Yes, I think there has been an increase in "special snowflakes" that think the rules don't apply to them so they lie so that they can have their precious Fifi in the parks with them. But there also seems to be an increase in the number of legit service dogs as there are becoming more and more recognized uses for them, so there are more trainers and more patients getting them.

We have had two interesting service dog stories in the parks. The first was when we saw what must have been 20 dogs all together on Main Street. Turns out they had just graduated from service dog training and were going to get "crowd" experience. They were all posing together for Photopass pictures in front of the castle!

The second story was particularly interesting. We were sitting in the courtyard in Morocco and the lady next to us has a service dog. We think nothing of it until the dog starts whining and seeming agitated. The lady turns to us and asks if we have any diabetics in our group. Her dog detects low blood sugar, but according to her the dog was new to her and hadn't yet learned to focus just on her. So it was smelling the blood sugar of everyone nearby. The lady had already checked her sugar and it was fine. My mom is diabetic, and so she checked her blood sugar and it was crashing. The dog smelled it and caught it before my mom had any major symptoms and we were able to quickly correct it. So awesome what these dogs can do!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've commented on service animals or emotional support animals threads in the past but this one at least to me has a slightly different feel.

Frankly I'm not predisposed to see a service animal or an emotional support animal and immediately jump to all sorts of random thoughts on "do they actually need the animal?". I take it for what I see and move on with my life-although of course abuse is there and sometimes blantant.

Completely understandable to those who have severely (like life threatening) allergies to animals as they do need to be vigilent regarding their surroundings.

But when I go to WDW next month the last thing on my mind will be "gee I wonder if all these folks with animals in the parks need those animals".

I'm sorry I'm not trying to be mean but some places do lend themselves to more serious talk such as airplanes and whatnot but a theme park where thousands and thousands of people around me the 10,11,12, etc amount of animals that I see will not even be a blip on my radar much less me trying to decipher who truly needs one or who is just out there to scam the system.

 

[Dentam]

This thread is making me equally angry and sad. Y'all are using "quotes" around "service" animals and all of this underhanded 'well why do they need 2 animals?'. So sad. Just pray to God that you don't NEED a service animal OR a wheelchair OR an ECV or anything else that helps you live a normal life and feel like a normal person in the Happiest Place on Earth and not have Judgey McJudgertons whisper behind your back and then go on message board to complain about your disability.

EDITED to take out language

I don't think the majority of people commenting on this thread have done this.

 

[wilkeliza]

If it doesn't actually have anything saying it's a service animal, it's a safe assumption that it's not. I would hope CMs (especially security CMs) would be suspicious of any like that or if it doesn't seem like an official service dog in any way. And it is supposed to be only service animals there, nothing else according to park rules. Anyone who violates this by falsely claiming that would be guilty of a misdemeanor as mentioned earlier and also would pose a potential risk to security of people in the park. I hope security controls all this well enough, especially to prevent any attacks on guests

Why would that be a safe assumption? While yes many service animal do have the vest or identification tags they are not legally required. Just as many fakers buy vests online so they "look legit" as those who don't. I pointed out earlier the only way I really care is if the handler isn't treating the dog well or the dog is not well trained/maintained.

 

[wilkeliza]

This thread is making me equally angry and sad. Y'all are using "quotes" around "service" animals and all of this underhanded 'well why do they need 2 animals?'. So sad. Just pray to God that you don't NEED a service animal OR a wheelchair OR an ECV or anything else that helps you live a normal life and feel like a normal person in the Happiest Place on Earth and not have Judgey McJudgertons whisper behind your back and then go on message board to complain about your disability.

EDITED to take out language

I haven't seen anyone complain about a disability.

 

[allsaintsatx]

I don't think the majority of people commenting on this thread have done this.

The majority of people didn't start this thread.

 

[allsaintsatx]

I haven't seen anyone complain about a disability.

Then you and I must be reading different threads